Christian Cooper reconnects with Hoover firefighters who came to his fiery crash

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Hoover fire Capt. Chuck Banks shows Christian Cooper a photo they have hanging in the stairwell at Hoover Fire Station No. 5 in Bluff Park. The photo is of a Feb. 27, 2016, car wreck in which Cooper suffered burns to 80 percent of his body. Cooper had lunch with firefighters and paramedics at the station on Monday, Oct. 3, 2016.

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Christian Cooper, center, chats with two of the five firefighters at Hoover Fire Station No. 5 in Bluff Park who responded to Cooper's fiery car wreck in February. Cooper had lunch with the firefighters on Monday, Oct. 3, 2016.

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Christian Cooper, second from left, and his father, Earl Cooper, at left, chat with Hoover fire Chief Chuck Wingate and Chuck Banks, captain of Hoover Fire Station No. 5 in Bluff Park, which responded to Cooper's fiery car crash in February. Cooper came to say thank you on Monday, Oct. 3, 2016.

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Christian Cooper, at left, chats with Hoover firefighters Scott Mims and Capt. Chuck Banks, both of whom responded to a fiery car crash involving Cooper in February. Banks invited Cooper to have lunch at the station on Monday, Oct. 3, 2016.

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Christian Cooper, at left, and his father, Earl Cooper, have lunch with firefighters at Hoover Fire Station No. 5 in Bluff Park on Monday, Oct. 3, 2016. Firefighters from that station responded to a fiery car crash involving Cooper in February.

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Christian Cooper, at right, and his father, Earl Cooper, have lunch with firefighters at Hoover Fire Station No. 5 in Bluff Park on Monday, Oct. 3, 2016. Firefighters from that station responded to a fiery crash car involving Cooper in February.

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Christian Cooper, at left, chats with Hoover fire Chief Chuck Wingate as they have lunch at Hoover Fire Station No. 5 in Bluff Park on Monday, Oct. 3, 2016. Cooper came to thank firefighters who responded to a fiery crash in February in which he suffered burns to 80 percent of his body.

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Christian Cooper eats lunch with firefighters at Hoover Fire Station No. 5 in Bluff Park, saying thank you to firefighters who responded to a February fiery crash in which he suffered burns to 80 percent of his body.

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Christian Cooper visited Hoover Fire Station No. 5 in Bluff Park on Monday, Oct. 3, 2016, to have lunch with firefighters who responded to a February fiery car crash in which he suffered burns to 80 percent of his body.

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Christian Cooper, second from right, came to Hoover Fire Station No. 5 in Bluff Park on Monday, Oct. 3, 2016, to have lunch with firefighters from the station that responded to a February fiery crash in which he suffered burns to 80 percent of his body. From left are Kelvin Young, Scott Jackson, Chad Smith, Scott Mims, Cooper and Capt. Chuck Banks.

Most paramedics don’t get to follow up with patients they treat and take to the hospital, but firefighters and paramedics at Hoover’s Bluff Park fire station today had that chance.

Christian Cooper, a 25-year-old Hoover man who suffered burns over 80 percent of his body in a fiery crash on Interstate 65 in February, dropped by Hoover Fire Station No. 5 and ate lunch with the firefighters and paramedics.

Three of the five paramedics who responded to Cooper’s crash were able to reconnect with him — under much better circumstances.

Chuck Banks, the station captain, said he had kept up with Cooper’s story of recovery through a Caring Bridge page Cooper’s sister had set up. Once Cooper returned home to Hoover from a burn center in Augusta, Georgia, Banks called and invited him to come have lunch with the firefighters.

He wanted his men to have an opportunity to meet one of their patients who had a good outcome and see firsthand how their work had an impact on somebody else’s life, he said.

“A lot of times, we don’t get the follow-up,” Banks said. “We treat them, stabilize them and once they get in the hospital, we never hear from them again. Having somebody come by and visit us like this — it’s great.”

Banks said he has been a firefighter for about 35 years and has seen a lot of people whose burn injuries were less severe than Cooper’s injuries but didn’t survive.

“Seeing him that day, I knew he was going to have a very tough road ahead of him if he survived,” Banks said.

It has been a tough road. When Cooper was first taken to UAB Hospital from the wreck, doctors gave him a five percent chance of surviving through the night and said if he did survive, he would never walk out of the hospital, his father, Earl Cooper, said.

Cooper spent five months at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Georgia, undergoing multiple surgeries and skin grafts and battling infections and other difficulties. He came home in late July but has continued with physical therapy and more surgeries. His 61st surgery is scheduled for this Thursday, his father said.

While at the Bluff Park fire station today, Banks showed Cooper a picture on their wall from Cooper’s wreck scene. They talked about what happened that day from their different perspectives.

Banks said as soon as they got on the scene and saw bystanders carrying Cooper’s body over the guardrail on the side of the interstate, he told his men to forget about the fire for the moment and focus on Cooper. Once they got Cooper stabilized, they turned their attention to his car that was on fire down a ravine.

Banks said there were three things that contributed to Cooper’s positive outcome that day: God’s grace, Cooper’s strong will to survive and a lot of bystanders who were willing to help.